Are you facing cash flow problems in your salon business? Are retail products disappearing from the shelves? Well, managing inventory records is no mean feat especially when you run a beauty salon. Even if a little product has been stolen, it can affect your overall bottom line. There is only one answer to safeguard your inventory, usage rates, delivery time, stock levels and order quantity that is salon inventory software.
Importance of Inventory Audits in a Salon
Running a stock audit regularly can set you up for success. Don’t let the term “audit” intimidate you. In layman’s terms, an inventory audit is just an analytical procedure to check if a company’s inventory of actual count of goods matches the financial records. In order to eliminate shrinkage, maintain inventory accuracy and ensure you always have the right amount of stock, it’s important to conduct inventory audits.
Stock level optimisation
By conducting regular audits, you can maintain the right balance between demand and supply. You also get a fair idea of which products are selling fast and which are sitting on the shelves. It considerably helps you combat low stock levels. Overstocking inventory is a problem faced by most salons. On the other hand, certain salons face embarrassing situations when they run out of products. In both cases, client satisfaction is impacted. Thus, inventory checks are crucial.
Prevents theft/shrinkage
Inventory shrinkage involves different types of product theft. It is a major problem of salon inventory management. Employees or customers may take products home when nobody is looking. By tracking inventory regularly, you can catch any kind of discrepancies and take immediate action to prevent any kind of further losses.
Excessive product utilisation is eliminated
When it comes to salon inventory management, excessive product utilisation becomes quite an issue. Stylists or technicians tend to overuse a particular product. The problem here is not theft but overuse of products. This can have a significant effect on inventory levels and even affect profit margins. To mitigate the same, salon inventory software can be used wherein stylists can record the amount of product being used for every service. Once a certain product threshold has been achieved, the software even automatically orders the product on behalf of you.
Accurate financial tracking
As a salon owner, you need to be on top of your financial records. Not knowing key business metrics and numbers can severely affect your bottom line. Even a slight difference between what is reported and what is actually in stock can hurt your profits. To ensure the profitability of your salon, you need to budget, assess and conduct accurate forecasts periodically.
Enhanced customer satisfaction
In the beauty industry, customer satisfaction is everything. On a particular day, if you don’t have a certain product, it can upset your customers. With the right inventory, you can offer consistent service to your clients each time they visit. Running out of product can damage your reputation. By keeping inventory audits in check, you will always have products in stock to meet the never-ending demands of your discerning clients.
Better supplier relationship
Real-time inventory tracking also helps you maintain a better relationship with your suppliers. This way, they can offer you the best products at the most competitive prices. In the future, you can also negotiate better terms with them and make adjustments to your sourcing strategy based on what’s moving faster and what’s not.
Shelf-life management
There is a common misconception in the beauty industry that shampoos, conditioners and makeup products do not expire. However, on the contrary, they do. A lot of salons and spas are facing issues with regard to handling retail product expiration. Products lying on the shelf only catch dust and nothing else. When it comes to skincare and haircare, the products should be stored well to prevent any kind of pilferage, expiration, etc. Pay close attention to tracking products, inventory rotation and promotion to avoid any kind of financial losses. At the same time, you can even satisfy customer demands and ensure they’re happy at all times.
Generate reports regularly
Inventory audits and control also help you generate timely records. By using salon inventory software, you can generate reports automatically without manually checking which product has been sold or what service has been availed. In certain regions, maintaining records is essential especially for safety and health regulations.
Conclusion
As your beauty business grows, the complexity of inventory management increases. Expansion also makes managing inventory a task. The best thing to do is to invest in inventory management software for salons such as Salon360App. It not just simplifies your operations but also offers comprehensive tools to manage your inventory, retail products and salon supplies. Are you ready to embark on real-time inventory tracking like never before? Our team would love to give you a free demo!
